Chapter 54
“Did you pull it off again?”
Having dealt with the succubus and returned to Tiranis, the Masked Cat was once again walking through the royal palace corridors in his clown outfit.
To meet his master, Alice—or, more precisely, the demon residing within her.
“I wonder how long I’ll have to keep doing this.”
His tone was different from usual.
This was, in fact, the Masked Cat’s real manner of speaking.
He had to act like a clown as usual, or his master would grow wary of him.
His efforts to spend as much time with her as possible had been for the same reason.
Creak……
He opened the red door at the end of the hallway and went inside.
The room’s layout, surrounded by dazzling golden light, came fully into view.
At its very center sat Alice, legs crossed, smiling at him.
‘Does she still not know anything?’
Like a programmed machine, the Masked Cat knelt on one knee before her and bowed his head.
“Heehee. You seem to be in a good mood again today—”
“Cat.”
He froze.
At the cold, still voice unlike her usual one, the Masked Cat’s body stiffened in an instant.
And that voice continued, without returning to its usual laughter-filled tone.
“Isn’t something a little strange? You think so too, don’t you?”
“……What do you mean?”
“Are you going to tell me, or should I spell it all out for you?”
“…….”
This is bad.
The Masked Cat secretly broke into a cold sweat beneath his mask.
It seemed his betrayal had reached her ears.
‘Where on earth did she hear about it? And how much does she know?’
Those questions flashed through his mind.
“Why is the elf elder, who should be dead by now, still alive and well? And why is the succubus who was supposed to help us brainwash the pope dead, Cat? And……”
And.
The next words were obvious.
“Why is the Hero perfectly fine and off looking for the Holy Sword? By now, he should’ve given in to his desires and destroyed at least one village. Am I wrong? And the contract was severed at some point, too……. Does any of this make sense to you?”
“Haha…… I’m not sure about that, either……”
“No, you know.”
“……”
So it was no use hiding it anymore.
And the Hero had severed his contract?
That was news to me, too.
Saving the elf elder.
Killing the succubus.
It was true that he’d done all of it to keep Alice’s power from increasing.
The demon residing in Alice grew stronger through ‘contracts.’
‘And I have to capture this demon to return home.’
Two hundred years ago, I was summoned as a Hero and brought to this world.
And, as a matter of course, I made a contract with the demon residing inside the princess of that time.
[Kill the calamity of this world, and you will return to your original world.]
No, to be precise, there was a hidden clause.
[You will become a puppet that perfectly carries out my commands.]
And so, I became a puppet who could not grow old and die.
From then on, the more I carried out the orders in the hidden clause of the contract, the stronger that demon became.
I realized it two hundred years ago, after defeating the previous Demon King.
‘I’d fought with my life on the line…… and I still couldn’t go home.’
The Demon King I’d believed was the calamity wasn’t the calamity.
It’s that thing. That thing is the calamity of this world.
Otherwise, there was no way it could give off such a nauseating, disgusting aura.
And all this time, I’d been faithfully fulfilling the contract and making that thing stronger.
From the moment I realized that, I began disobeying the contract’s orders little by little, weakening the demon instead.
I’d realized that when I failed to fulfill the contract, the backlash would weaken the demon.
‘Thank goodness I’d managed not to get caught until now.’
That thing hadn’t noticed its power was decreasing.
After all, it never had a chance to fight directly itself.
It would be hard to tell whether its power had increased or decreased.
Unlike me, who could gauge an opponent’s strength from the aura they gave off.
The Masked Cat placed a hand on his sword hilt.
‘Should I do it now? Judging by the aura I can still sense, it’s stronger than me, though…….’
Even so, now that he’d been found out, he had no other choice.
Rumble……
He tensed his legs, ready to spring forward at once.
He planned to burst her heart the moment he moved.
At the very least, he could cut off one of her arms.
Just as the Masked Cat was about to charge at Alice.
“Kyahaha! Sorry, Cat! I must’ve made you work too hard, so you made a mistake, right? You’re just so dependable, I couldn’t help myself!”
“……Heehee! Is that so? I suppose it might be because I haven’t been able to sleep much lately.”
“Hmm, so, could you do one really easy thing for me this time? It’s a simple job—just kill one person.”
“Oh? What could it be that you’re asking me so nicely? Please, go ahead!”
“Then go kill the mage in the Hero’s party yourself! I just have this feeling that that bitch is the culprit who brought our Hero back to his senses. It hit me like a flash! Kyahahahaha!”
“Heehee. Understood. Then I’ll be off.”
He bowed.
The Masked Cat darted out the door.
Only after he’d gotten some distance away did he wipe the cold sweat trickling down his face.
‘Fortunately, there’s still a grace period.’
Alice was only suspicious of him for now.
Thanks to that, he still had one last chance to weaken her power.
The Masked Cat himself hadn’t been properly prepared for this sudden turn of events, so not fighting right now was the best option.
‘First, I need to find the Hero’s party.’
And so, the Masked Cat arrived in Baelogia.
He’d always kept a close eye on them, so finding their location was no trouble.
‘Hmm, I wonder how I should get through this one.’
The Masked Cat was already an expert at violating contracts.
By keeping the elf elder alive, he’d made it impossible to enter Edelia again, now that the World Tree’s barrier had been restored. Killing the elf elder was no longer an option.
And by killing the succubus, he’d also made it impossible to hypnotize the pope.
In other words, the key was to create situations where he couldn’t fulfill the contract and weaken Alice.
By disobeying the orders one by one like this, he’d weakened that demon’s power.
Now, let’s go over the order he’d just received.
“She definitely told me to deal with the mage ‘myself.’”
But what if someone else killed the mage before I did? The contract couldn’t be fulfilled.
The only problem was finding someone who would kill the mage in his place……
‘Hm? Is that……’
As he walked through Baelogia, now reduced to ruins.
A veil-covered head of silver hair caught his eye.
It was the Saint who had joined the Hero’s party this time.
The Masked Cat approached at once.
If he could gently persuade the Saint, who didn’t yet know he existed, things might go smoothly.
“Beautiful young lady, what are you doing all alone in a place like this?”
“Pardon? Ah, ahaha……. Hello……”
She couldn’t meet his eyes and seemed sunk in sadness.
Anyone could see she was in a fragile state of mind and body.
‘This is practically a gift that’s fallen right into my lap.’
The Masked Cat listened to Prea and gave her advice.
Thinking she’d never see him again after this brief encounter, Prea poured out all her complaints.
And so, thirty minutes passed.
‘A love story, huh? Takes me back.’
He’d given up counting his age after two hundred years, but the Masked Cat had a wife back in his original world, too.
And he had a son he loved dearly.
That was what still drove the Masked Cat to keep searching for a chance to return home, without giving up.
‘Time flows differently in my original world and here. It’s probably only been a few years there.’
Maybe around twelve years had passed.
His son should be in college by now.
A sudden surge of longing made the Masked Cat’s heart ache.
Still, he had to do what needed to be done.
“Hmm, that really is awful. To deceive our kind and merciful young lady like that.”
“No, it was all my fault……. Ah, thank you for listening. But I need to go now, so I’ll be……”
“Wait. Would you be interested in playing a little prank, just to get a bit of revenge?”
“A little…… prank?”
“Yes, yes. I’ve set up a special trap in the snowy mountains that puts people to sleep. If you go to the location I’ve written down here and just slightly withdraw the blessing you placed on your companion……”
Then he leaned close to Prea’s ear and whispered.
“If your companion falls asleep, you might be able to get closer to the Hero while they’re out…… Heehee.”
“G-Get closer to Lord Se-on……”
Prea thought it over for a long while, then gave a slight nod.
In the end, she accepted the note he held out.
“That’s a good choice. Well then, goodbye.”
“……”
Pat-pat-pat.
Watching the Saint’s back as she walked away, the Masked Cat grinned.
‘I hope I can lure them in with a land mine packed with demonic energy.’
It was an inferior version of the bomb he’d used in Edelia.
He planned to bury it in the snowy mountains.
A demonic-energy bomb was an extremely effective weapon for killing a person.
‘It would’ve been useless if the Saint were with them, though…….’
The blessing the Saint continuously placed on the Hero’s party kept demonic energy completely at bay.
Because of that, even if he used a demonic-energy bomb, the chances of killing the mage were slim. He’d been thinking of another method, but now the Saint was going to withdraw the blessing, so he could use the bomb.
‘This will weaken her power once again.’
Even when someone died by stepping on a land mine planted by a soldier, people usually didn’t call the person who planted it a murderer.
Strictly speaking, he’d only planted it, and the Saint would be the one to lure the mage there and kill them, so he thought she’d bear more responsibility for the murder.
In other words, since he hadn’t killed the mage ‘himself,’ the contract would successfully fail.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow……”
The Masked Cat stroked a family photo that had discolored with age and began walking toward the snowy mountains.
***
‘What a load of bullshit.’
What Broad brought back wasn’t a mascot costume.
It was a bunny-girl outfit made of smooth, skin-tight material, with holes in several places that left plenty of skin exposed.
At least it was fortunate that it came with a mask resembling my face.
When I gave him a look asking what the hell this was, Broad started making excuses.
“Kwahaha! W-Well, you see. I must’ve gotten confused—it wasn’t a mascot costume, but a cosplay outfit! Isn’t that absurd? I think so too! Kwahaha……”
Oh, sure.
I can’t believe this.
“Haa……. Then can I just wear the mask? How am I supposed to go around dressed in this? It’s embarrassing.”
My shoulders, cleavage, and even my armpits were all exposed, and the outfit had a zipper down the back, clearly designed to show off that area.
I wasn’t even sure you could call this clothing.
“That won’t work. Did you know people distinguish others by their distinctive features more than you’d think? Your horns and tail are distinctive, so you’ll have to wear an outfit like that if you want them to believe you’re someone else. You can pretend to be a rabbit beastkin.”
“Hmm, if that’s the case…… Yubel, could you make an exception just this once? You only need to wear it until we get to the snowy mountain, okay?”
“Haa……. Do whatever you want.”
Maybe she was too tired to resist, because Yubel accepted the bunny ears and outfit and promptly headed to a corner of the cabin.
Se-on and Broad then left the cabin, leaving the sleeping Riella behind.
Once outside, Se-on looked a little surprised.
‘I didn’t think she’d put it on so willingly…….’
When Broad was talking, she’d looked ready to refuse at any moment, but as soon as I asked, she sighed and nodded.
‘Is she doing what I say because she had to pretend to be my lover in front of Broad……? He knows now, so there’s no need for that anymore.’
But Se-on decided not to tell her this.
The thought that Yubel considered him her lover made it impossible to stop smiling. It was as if the corners of his mouth had forgotten how to come down.
As he hummed while waiting for Yubel.
‘Oh, by the way, where did Prea go?’
The thought suddenly crossed his mind.
When he returned to the cabin, Prea was gone.
But if Yubel wasn’t saying anything, it probably wasn’t serious.
‘Still, I can’t help worrying—’
-Hey, Hero! Come in here for a second!
Loud and clear.
He heard someone calling him from inside.
At Yubel’s request that he come in alone, Broad decided to wait outside, and Se-on went in.
But then.
“Oh, you’re here? The zipper’s in the back, so I can’t reach it. Could you pull it up for me?”
“……”
Yubel was wearing nothing but her panties as she struggled to put on the costume.
With her back turned toward me, she awkwardly asked me to pull up the zipper, looking utterly innocent.
‘Ah, this works out perfectly.’
This is my chance to tell her I’m a man.